17 70. According to statements of some of its former commanders, tasks performed by the FTA included setting up fixed and roving check points along different parts of the highway,36 as well as conducting and keeping up-to-date a census of the entire area under the jurisdiction of the FTA along the highway.37 One former commander reported that the civilian population census began in late 1995. He claimed that it included a map with “the name of the inhabitants, the house they lived in [and] how many [people] were living in each house.”38 Major Carlos Guzmán, former FTA commander, stated that the function of the census “was to exert control” over the inhabitants and their residences as well as to “control the great majority of critical areas.”39 71. Several statements are on record citing FTA operations against the civilian population of the area. In this regard, in an official letter addressed to the Regional People’s Ombudsman of Medellin in October 1996, the municipal ombudsman of Cocorná reported that “in our municipality (…) no assaults have occurred by illegal armed groups.”40 He also stated that the most serious aspect of the confrontations between the army and the guerrilla groups are the “acts of retaliation that the members of the military take out on the peasants of the region, with the justification that they provide support to the guerrillas.”41 The municipal ombudsman of Cocorná indicated that army operations “have been confined to the militarization of different areas with raids on peasant residences and threats to their residents by the members of the military.”42 Both this ombudsman and witnesses mentioned acts of torture, rape, illegal check points, among other abuses committed by the army against members of the civilian population, who were perceived as aiding the guerrillas.43 One inhabitant of the region stated 36 Annex 12. Statement of Carlos Alberto Guzmán Lombana to the Regional Office of Prosecutors, Investigation InTake Section, dated March 26, 1998. Case File No. 233 UNDH [National Human Rights Unit]. Book No. 2. Pages 118-131. Compact disk attached to petitioners’ communication of June 24, 2010. 37 Annex 18. Quarterly report No. 005003/BR4/BIOSP-S3-375 on the activities of the Águila Task Force, signed by the commander Coronel Gustavo Porras, dated October 31, 1995. Case File No. 233 UNDH. Book No. 6. Compact disk attached to petitioners’ communication of June 24, 2010. 38 Annex 14. Statement of Jairo Hurtado Olaya to the Regional Prosecutor’s Office of the National Unit, dated July 17, 1998. Case File No. 233 UNDH. Book No. 3. Compact disk attached to petitioners’ communication of June 24, 2010; Annex 14. Statement of Hugo Alonso del Milagro Abondano Mican to the National Human Rights Unit, dated July 31, 1998. Case File No. 233 UNDH. Book No. 3. Compact disk attached to petitioners’ communication of June 24, 2010; Annex 14. Statement of Hugo Alonso del Milagro Abondano Mican to the National Human Rights Unit, dated August 4, 1998. Case File No. 233 UNDH. Book No. 3. Compact disk attached to petitioners’ communication of June 24, 2010. 39 Annex 15. Initial Statement on the facts of Carlos Alberto Guzmán Lombana, File 233 UDH, dated February 13, 2001. Annex to petitioners’ submission received in the IACHR on February 1, 2007; Annex 11. Continuation of initial statement on the facts of Carlos Guzmán Lombana, to the National Human Rights Unit, dated February 20, 2001. Case File No. 233 UNDH. Book No. 8. Compact disk attached to petitioners’ communication of June 24, 2010. 40 Annex 9. Official Letter from the Municipal Ombudsman of Cocorná, Edgar Alzate García, to the Regional People’s Ombudsman of Medellín, dated October 21, 1996. Case File No. 233 UNDH. Book No. 12. Pages 313-314. Compact disk attached to petitioners’ communication of June 24, 2010. 41 Annex 9. Official Letter from the Municipal Ombudsman of Cocorná, Edgar Alzate García, to the Regional People’s Ombudsman of Medellín, dated October 21, 1996. Case File No. 233 UNDH. Book No. 12. Pages 313-314. Compact disk attached to petitioners’ communication of June 24, 2010. 42 Annex 9. Official Letter from the Municipal Ombudsman of Cocorná, Edgar Alzate García, to the Regional People’s Ombudsman of Medellín, dated October 21, 1996. Case File No. 233 UNDH. Book No. 12. Pages 313-314. Compact disk attached to petitioners’ communication of June 24, 2010. 43 Annex 19. Submission of Corporación Jurídica Libertad to the National Human Rights Unit of the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation, filed on April 2, 2007. Annex to petitioners’ communication of July 1, 1999; Annex 20. Statement of Luis Eleazar Gallego Castaño to the Municipal Ombudsman of El Carmen de Viboral, dated June 27, 1996. Annex